In 2008, Bill Malone got a glimpse of a cleaner future, all by trying to gain an edge in the garbage business.

Malone, who founded Enviro Express, a municipal waste and recycling hauling company based in Bridgeport, had traveled to California to attend the annual conference of the National Solid Waste Association. But it was only afterwards, while wandering through the city of Los Angeles, where he stumbled across the industry's next big idea: a line of unusually outfitted trucks, some hauling groceries and large shipping containers, as well as big tractor trailers.

Following them into the port of Los Angeles, he found fueling stations that dispensed natural gas, both in liquid and compressed form.

Spurred by environmental concerns, California had encouraged the shift to alternative fuel sources. Natural gas burns cleaner than diesel. It is also more cost-efficient, as much as $1.50 a gallon cheaper than diesel, which in 2008 had soared to $5 a gallon.

Malone, a savvy entrepreneur who got his start driving a trash truck at age 18, saw the writing on the wall.

"We couldn't continue the way we were going," he said. "If we wanted to grow our trucking business, we needed to take a serious look at liquefied natural gas."

In 2010, using funding from a federal stimulus grant, he built a $6.2 million natural gas fueling station in Bridgeport and purchased 18 tractors that ran on liquefied natural gas, also known as LNG.

Making history

In doing so, he made history: Located off Exit 26 on Interstate 95, the Enviro Express facility, which also sells compressed natural gas, was the first LNG gas station to operate east of the Mississippi.

Today, amid a supply boom from gas shale drilling, also known as fracking, natural gas has become a widely talked about energy source and an increasingly popular fuel choice for transportation.

There are 142,000 natural gas vehicles today on the road in the U.S., up from 135,000 in 2013, according to Natural Gas Vehicles for America, an industry group.

In its 2013 annual energy outlook, the U.S. Department of Energy projected that the largest growth in demand for natural gas will come from vehicles. It estimated that consumption of natural gas in vehicles will increase from about 40 billion cubic feet in 2011 to just over 1 trillion cubic feet in 2040.

Seven stations

In Connecticut, there are a total of seven natural gas stations that are available for public use, according to a database maintained by the U.S. Department of Energy.

Lee Grannis, the coordinator for the New Haven Clean Cities Coalition, which facilitated the federal funding for Enviro Express, has since helped open three compressed natural gas stations. The group, which is part of the U.S. Clean Cities Program, provides guidance to companies weighing the switch to alternative fuels.

The infrastructure costs are considerable. A double-tank LNG tractor can cost between $100,000 and $120,000, he said.

Malone, who operates a fleet of 50 trucks, said that over 100 companies interested in converting to natural gas have toured his station since it opened. His natural gas customers include AT&T, Metro Taxi, Royal Environmental Services, the town of Shelton and the city of Bridgeport.

Along with Wheelabrator Technologies, the longtime waste-to-energy plant operator, Enviro Express now serves as the centerpiece of Bridgeport's Eco-Technology Park, a cluster of environmentally conscious companies.

"Bill set up a big circus tent," Bridgeport Mayor Bill Finch said. "Through these different synergies, there is a lot of excitement around and among the green businesses."

Slow to adopt

Yet despite Malone's trailblazing start, the switch to natural gas by vehicles in Connecticut has been relatively slow. The state has yet to broaden its alternative fuel incentives to the private sector. New York, Massachusetts and Pennsylvania all offer multiple grants for commercial as well as municipal fleets.

On top of that, federal grants, like one Malone received, have since dried up.

Malone, who drives a natural gas-powered car, believes it is only a matter of time before the rising cost of oil causes others to have a reawakening similar to one he had six years ago.

At one point during his research, the fast-talking Philadelphia native strode into the California headquarters of Clean Energy Fuels. The company is the largest natural gas fueling station company in North America. To date, it has built about 500 fueling stations across the U.S. and Canada.

Malone requested a meeting with none other than Clean Energy's founder, the Texas oil billionaire T. Boone Pickens. "I'm not shy," he said, with a chuckle.

Ultimately, the two met several times. Malone credited Pickens with convincing him that natural gas was the way to go.

"It's American jobs, it's American industry and it's 50 percent cleaner," he said. "It's almost a no-brainer."